Water Under The Bridge
by DrizzleMadness
Summary: She doesn't want to do anything with ninjas but sometimes fate has a way of screwing her plan sideways with karma throwing in a helping hand. Fuyumi could feel the headache coming as she stared into a pair of wide sea blue eyes. After all, her teacher used to joke about how she always seems to have the weirdest luck. "Do I want to know why you've been following me around town kid?"
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but my own OC.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Fuyumi frowned in concentration. She is currently focused on chopping the carrots into fine pieces as instructed by the orphanage caretakers. She was currently in the kitchen with a few older girls supervising as well as helping to prepare their lunch. The harmonious sound of chopping and slicing was soothing with a few hush whispers of gossips and idle chit chats around her.

She has been here for almost four years now since she was dropped off by someone in the middle of the winter night when she was a few months old. No one noticed her until one of the older kids snuck out and found her there freezing. She heard it was a miracle that she even survived that night after they took her to the hospital, thus she was given the name Fuyumi.

Her appearances were partially another reason for her name with her pale skin, straight silky raven locks and dark blue eyes. At first the caretakers thought she might be an Uchiha with such a distinctive feature, different from the other orphans. However, with the confirmation from the tests from the hospital shows that she did not possess any similar DNA with the clan.

Fuyumi does not understand why sometimes she felt a sense of relief that she was not a part of that said clan. It was confusing since some younger caretakers said that being sorted into a clan orphanage was better as they support them better. However, before she could further question about it, Mari will always send them off to work.

Mari is a favourite caretaker as well as the person in charge of the entire house. Some may call her strict and mean, but to Fuyumi, she is the woman with the kindest and biggest heart she ever met. The head caught her once trying to make a cake for the younger children, instead of sending her away, she helped and taught her to bake.

With her being in her early thirties and wearing a stern face, she tends to be a little unpopular with the younger kids. Her hair would always be held up in a bun, not a single strand out of place with her glasses sitting properly on her small button nose. She would always be seen with a ruler everywhere, ready to discipline anyone who misbehaves.

Sometimes, she would sit with Fuyumi and help her on her reading and writings which she seldom does. It was hard, but with Mari patiently explaining everything to her, it gets easier and better. Many orphans were not interested in learning their letters or they were too young to learn them so she took advantage of it and monopolised Mari's attention.

Right now Fuyumi is sure that she is Mari's favourite in the entire orphanage. She takes in the pleasure of having extra deserts after dinner and does lesser chores, but no one needs to know. After all, jealousy is a dangerous emotion to play with and she does not need everyone hounding on her for her little new found privileges.

However, Mari is not always happy, especially during the end of spring where she would snap at anyone who irritates her a little. From what she heard from the older girls, they said she lost her son during this time and always morn for an entire week. During the night, Fuyumi hears her crying when she thought everyone was asleep in bed.

Fuyumi does not feel guilty for using Mari to make her life easier. She hates that she has to share a small room with five other girls with no privacy or whatsoever. She has to endure the constant screams of hungry babies and children as they run up and down the hallway. However, with Mari in her palms, soon she may be allowed to move into the adult sleeping area.

Since young, she remembers she once had a normal life with her own room and things she did not need to share but it was blurry and unfamiliar. Even so, currently Fuyumi was not satisfied with those and wanted more. Who cares that she left a life behind with people who missed her. After all, what will she gain from it right now even if she does find out her past?

Therefore, Fuyumi did not bother to venture into her past life and forced herself to forget as she slowly age up. She knew she was too young to leave the orphanage with no money nor knowledge about anything. Therefore her first priority right now is to get away from the madness before proceeding to any sort other objectives.

Her efforts do pay off when one day Mari decided to take her out for a shopping trip. Imagine her surprised when she saw the carved faces on the mountain and had a sense of déjà vu. A feeling of dread, despair crawled up her spine, freezing her on the spot. A small voice in her head whispers: _Naruto._

Mari misinterpreted her expression and indulged in explaining to her about the faces of their hokage like she did for other kids who saw it for the first time. Slowly the small blurry snippets of memories came back to her with Mari narrating about their village and its history. Fuyumi dares not say anything and continue her shopping trip with her caretaker.

She is in a ninja village. There were all sorts of people walking in the streets, but a few stood out, especially those in the group wearing the same uniformed vest outfit. Somehow, they managed to intimidate her with their presence and she clings closer to her caretaker. Her first trip outside was not as successful and enjoyable as she wanted.

When they got home, she quickly gave an excuse of being tired from their day trip and retire into her room. Realising that she is in a ninja village changed everything. It took her a few hours to rewrite a new plan of action before discarding the first one entirely. There was no way she is going to prance herself under the spotlight when it was the fastest way to die.

This is a ninja village and said to be the safest place to live in but she is hesitant to believe that entirely. After all, if her memories were still correct, then people like Danzo and Orochimaru were still roaming around freely and doing who knows what. Their desire for prodigies and unusual kekkei genkai will no doubt take an interest in her if she shows any potential.

If anyone asked about Fuyumi, all the caretakers will tell them that she is a well behaved child, but a little shy with strangers while the kids will praise her baking skills. Her presence would be remembered but not enough to stand nor missed out from the crowds. She would just be a little girl of four, nearly five who could bake nice chocolate cakes and cookies.

* * *

Her normal daily routine was interrupted when a group of ninja decided to drop by. She was reading quietly next to the bookshelf, waiting for Mari to finish her work and join her. However, a knock on the front door disrupted her normal life. She watched as Mari invited the visitors in and ushered all the kids into the living room with the ninja guests.

She watched them animatedly talking about their adventures and heroic stories which captivated every child. Fuyumi cringed internally at their recruitment scheme, but still wore an excited smile on her face, listening to their tale about rescuing a princess and so on. The occupational hazards were quite high for someone who claims to be rescuing princesses.

There was no doubt that their stories would entice any children into joining their programme, but she was no ordinary child. That being said, she has to make sure that she was not behaving anything other than what they were expecting from orphans. After all, she knows there was an observer behind the group of children, cataloguing their every movement and reactions.

Sneaky but they were not expecting much from a bunch of orphan kids anyway with no parents nor guardians to guide them to gain the right mindset and skills. So she is considerably placed in a safe zone where they would just write her off as slightly mature compared to others. However, it was better to act childish just in case they are really weeding out the competent ones.

A ninja. She does not think she will be a great ninja from what they told her about their jobs and requirements. Fuyumi thinks that it will be a waste of her to be sacrificing herself for someone's motive. A battlefield is impossible to predict and for a person like her who likes systematic and order, it would be a terrible combination.

Furthermore, she prefers to stay on the sidelines rather than jump into the messy fray. Thinking about her dying before her thirteen birthday is unpleasant and she prefered to have already accomplished her list of having a nice apartment to comfortably live in at that age. Thus, the thought of being a ninja was entirely thrown out from her mind.

When it ended, the majority of children joined the ninjas outside to register into the academy, but some were turned down due to their young age. Fuyumi frowned before shrugging off the unpleasant feeling despite knowing most of them will die in the battlefield. It was not her business to decide when her fellow orphans should sign their death certificate.

On a lighter note, the orphanage will not be so crowded anymore with them attending the program. These days, children kept appearing on the doorstep and she heard Mari grumbling about their tight budgets and resources. She went to the officials to request for a larger funding, but it seems that they came up with a cheaper way of dealing with the problem.

If a child has graduated from the ninja academy, they would automatically be consider as an adult under the village system. Thus, they will no longer be taken care by the orphanage as they would be earning an income to support themselves. With the kids shipped off to the academy and graduate in a few years instead of leeching off the orphanage, they will be able to save cost.

A brilliant idea, but the benefits will only last for a short term effect. In the end the scheme would be useless and it would be too late to do anything as the damage has been done. The village will then suffer high unemployment rates and thus poverty will set in. She could see the butterfly effect and soon everything will be in a pile of ashes.

Young orphans will still go hunger as no one can control the numbers of orphans in the village. Food will be rationed and fought for where the older ones will have to leave most of it to the younger ones to survive. Necessities like clothes and beds will be a luxury thus leading many to be shared between the children.

Moreover, the academy will suffer too, as many civilian students will have to retake their programme. They are not as equipped as those students from the clans who already have a head start from the moment they were born. Thus, the government officials will have to either turn away the students or force to pass them.

Fuyumi chuckled lightly. Ninja are not stupid, but they always fail to see the view of civilians who works differently with their system. She will just have to make sure she leaves before the after effects starts to show. Was she going to do anything? Not really. Only the finest survives and the weakest dies. It is their fault of being too naive and gullible.

"Fuyumi-chan is not signing up?"

"No. I want to be a baker but almost everyone is signing up."

She put on a conflicted expression and played with a loose thread at the hem of her white shirt. Knowing if she played her cards well enough, she might get an excuse from Mira to help her avoid the questioning gazed of the ninjas when they count the numbers of children. She will need all sorts of excuses to cover her and it is time to cash in from all her fellow caretakers.

A gentle ruffle of her shoulder length hair before Mira told her that she would help out to reason with the ninjas if they question anything about her. Fuyumi could tell that her answer pleased the head caretaker since it was known that civilians tend to encourage children to avoid being a ninja.

From what she heard a few days ago, Saki, the oldest caretaker was complaining about ninjas needing a certain quota to fill. Apparently, war is brewing on the horizon and the village needed as much man power to boost up their military strength. Leaving the village now would be seen as suspicious and not to mention, they might have to close off their borders and restrict every passage.

Satisfied with her performance she went back to her corner to plan once again with the new obstacle in her path. She doubts that this would be their last time to manipulate orphans into their army and when the war starts, she bets that they would not even take no for an answer. This is the true horror being born into a military village with a dictator ruling over it.

From what she estimates, she would have less than three years to remain herself in this place not taking into account of war. In her current condition, no one would be willing to indulge a young girl about the brewing war and she could simply gather so much of information from the limited gossips and whispers in the orphanage.

Moreover, with her being four it is still possible to be adopted, but the chances were not high as she ages. However, there might be also a possibility that her adoptive family is abusive or have another alternative motive and she would not be entirely safe. So she needs to stay clear of future potential families when they come to visit.

There is not enough time for her with limitations of her age and current political bickering between countries. She needs to familiarised herself with the layout of the village as well as making connections with shopkeepers since they always have the best information network. However, this will take years to build up and she does not have that much luxury right now.

Income is also another factor she needs to consider too, which is practically impossible for a four year old to do so. Fuyumi needs to make sure to not attract any unwanted attention to herself, but socialising tends to make that impossible. It seems that she would have her work cut out for her these few months.

Her thoughts were cut off when she saw a ninja stepping back into the house with Mira. They were discussing about something which was too soft to hear. She might manage to squeeze out that information from Mira tomorrow. It was obvious that the head caretaker was not enjoying her nest being disturbed by pesky ninjas.

"Thank you for your time. We will be submitting your registrations to the academy. An instructor will come by few days later to go through everything with you."

The ninja bowed politely before walking out the front door and join his fellow co-workers. From the window, she could see them each carrying a small stack of papers before dispersing to different direction. Fuyumi frowned. It seems that they had already categorised everyone into different groups in such a short period of time.

 _Dangerous._

Moreover, they were going to send in another person to interact with them, but this time with someone more experience in analysing children's behaviour. This is bad, but she is confident that she might manage to pull another act through. But maybe she will need some volunteers this round to cement her life as an official civilian.

Well, at least her first crisis was avoided.

* * *

Hei everyone!

So the timeline now for my story is like a few years before the third war. So Fuyumi is obviously a reincarnated child, but she's not really into saving the whole world and changing the plot & etc. I have not figured out why she is apathy towards people yet, but maybe it has something to do with her past life? Meh. Who knows? What do you all think?

So I hope you enjoy this story and feel free to throw in some comments or stuff?

PS. It's not edited so sorry for the mistakes and errors! (I'm really sorry!)

**Check out my other books too while you're at it.

Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto except my OC.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Fuyumi took a deep breath before marching down the road, curious eyes scanning everything around her. Apparently, Mira had forgotten to buy some bread from the bakery a few blocks down the road, thus the four year old was tasked to get it. With the money and the shopping list safely tucked in her pocket, she started her venture out from the house.

The idea of letting a young child roam freely without adult supervision was slightly unnerving. If some idiot from her orphanage suddenly disappeared, she would not even be surprised. The naivety of the caretakers was clearly putting everyone including herself in danger and that was not acceptable. No wonder orphans getting kidnapped left and right were so easy.

Well, maybe as long as she sticks close to the crowd and away from isolated areas, it would reduce the chance of encountering any unwanted situations. Not that screaming would even help as ninjas can just whisk her off in a second to another place. Who knew that going out for a simple shopping trip will be so stressful.

Call her paranoid but safety is her first priority.

Anyway, this would be her first time going out alone into the village even though it would just be a short distance. So she better make good use of it since the first time was such a downer with her coming to terms that she had been somehow reborn into a fictional world. Who knows when will she ever get another opportunity like this.

There were so many things to see in the noisy vibrant streets. The rich pompous man over there who did not even know he was being overcharged for buying meat or the young lady in the accessory shop who looks like she is being scammed by a dodgy shopkeeper. The food stalls are cramped with people, having the best business while the bookstore next door is empty.

Fuyumi snorted at the layout of the shops in the district. It was messy and unorganised. The foul smell of raw meat and fish in the air as well as the screams of shopkeepers promoting their goods and discounts to their customers. The road is uneven and narrow, making it hard to avoid bumping into people or running children.

Moreover, what idiot would ever would put a bookstore next to a restaurant? At first glance it looks like a strategic place to set up a business with large customer base but being next to a rowdy street like this would just be a disadvantage. Most customers who purchase books tend to browse around for awhile and noises would make them annoyed.

She got an impression that the shop owner is a rookie who had just started in business with no whatsoever experience or guidance. If that person cannot find out his mistakes fast enough, then he should suffer from his stupidity. However, sometimes even with the best location and management it does not mean a business would definitely be successful.

Just like the bread store she would be visiting. Their quality of goods is consistent, selling at a right price but they are not attracting a lot of customers too. This problem arose when they failed to consider that an exterior and interior design of a shop. No one would venture into a dark and dull bread shop in a small corner hidden by a large overgrown tree.

Either the study of psychology of consumers towards products and their surroundings has not been invented yet or they just did not want to apply it, making her a little annoyed. Customer is king and they should be given a quality for their time and money spent. She could feel herself not wanting to set foot out of the orphanage anymore with their chaotic planning.

Even so, Fuyumi did not really put much high hope on the civilians at too despite thinking that ninjas are annoying mosquitoes. Almost all of them were not educated nor they see the importance of being literate. They have this mindset where studying would not help them much in life and it is a waste of money and time when instead, they could use it to help increase their household income by working.

However she begs to differ, going to school helps them interact socially and build their network base for potential business partners. Learning their numbers teaches them to calculate a profit from their sales as well as manage their costs. Knowing their letters and how to read helps them to avoid being swindled and can easily set up contracts.

The pain of being born in a somewhat traditional period where children's future is already decided by their parents. Men are supposed to work and prove for the family while women are expected to stay at home and manage the household. This is the only time where she is gladly being an orphan without meddling parents suffocating her with their rules and wishes.

Fuyumi does not understand how could they be satisfied with just inheriting their family restaurants or shop _s_ , condemning themselves to just that small role in their life when there are so many opportunities to spread out. However maybe it is just her being different and somehow not used to the culture.

Even so, she does bother to further understand with the problem anyway. If it has always been like this what made her think she should change them? She does not have spare time to care about mundane things like this, after all her deadline is very short with the newly calculated estimation of one and a half year left to escape the orphanage.

* * *

Fuyumi pushed open the door and squeeze her small frame into the tiny gap, being careful to not get anything caught between the closing door. It happened once when she was exiting the orphanage the other day and her hair got caught. Despite having an advance mind, her physical body is still a young child, making her limit to work only on easy and light tasks.

"Well isn't Fuyumi-chan? Mari is not here with you today?"

She turned around to meet with a plump woman in her late thirties who is the owner of the shop, Kana Akiyama. Her brunette hair was braided and pinned up securely into a bud. Her skin was slightly tanned but the most distinctive feature is her beauty mark on the corner of her right eye. She is wearing a typical baker uniform with some flour coated on her apron.

"No. Mari sent me to collect these."

She smiled brightly while rummaging her pocket to find the list and giving it to the older woman. It seems that when being polite and kind tends to leave a positive impression on people, making them to be much willing to be helpful. It amused her to no end how people would go through extreme lengths to please her for a simple fake smile.

Well, if she sees and advantage, she will make sure to squeeze it dry before moving on to the next one. Fuyumi would call herself an opportunist. Kindness is overrated and she does not need their charity for anything but she would not be so prideful to turn down any when she needs it. It would be their own fault to not realise that a four year old is using them as leverage.

Good for her and shame on them.

Currently, her new target is the dear sweet kind bakery woman who has a soft spot for polite children. From what Mari told her, Akiyama-san has two sons who seldom visit her and she has to work for her own living expenses. Aww, such a sad story but this will make charming the lonely lady much more easier than expected. This is already an absolute victory before she even started anything.

Her plan right now is to take any precaution just in case the orphanage suddenly cuts down on her food rations and she would not starve. Knowing that if she has the affection of Akiyama-san, she could always come to the bakery for a free treat. However, she cannot do this all the time so she will have to improvise another way. Plus, eating plain bread everyday will be too bland.

While waiting for her purchases, she decided to look around the shop. There was only a pair of young couple and a man browsing through some of the shelves where rows of breads are placed. The store was still the same as last time she visited, empty and dark. The depressing atmosphere is making her twitch in annoyance, wanting to get out of the shop immediately.

She does not even understand how Akiyama-san could even stand such a gloomy condition. The walls were painted in a light shade of purple but it looks grey under the dim lights. Her shelves were all black giving her a feeling that someone had burned it to crisp before placing them here. The windows were tinted, making it impossible for anyone to see inside without pressing their face against the glass.

"Here you go Fuyumi-chan. Here's the total amount."

She snapped her concentration back. Watching as Akiyama-san walk towards her with a big paper bag filled with at least three or more types of bread. She pulled out the money Mira had given her and placed it in the baker's hand before patiently waiting for the change. Well, it is time to set forth her strategy on this horrendous place that gave a sense of death.

"Neh Akiyama-san, why don't you cut down the tree then everyone can see your shop?"

She cringed internally at how childish she sounds right now but she had to play the role as a naive four year old. Fuyumi cannot wait until she grows up to stop her kiddie act as she could feel her intelligence shrinking every time she does it. But for her future she will have to endure the irritating role no matter how she detested it as patience is the key to everything.

"Cut it down?"

"Ya! When I first came here with Mari, I can't even see the entrance."

She waved her hand around to emphasised her situation. Why children move a lot when retelling their tales were still a mystery she had yet to uncover. However, she did observe that it does make an impact during their speeches and the actions did captivate adults in their conversations. It was not like as if it does any harm to use the technique here.

"I didn't even know this was a bread shop until I came in since everything is so dark."

"R-Really?"

Fuyumi nodded her head with a serious pout on her face. She managed to practice it to perfection right in front of the mirror in a few hours. These few days she tried to step up her act in preparation for the academy instructor to come. Might as well try her first mock test on a new subject who is not completely used to her presence and underhand performance.

Seriously, had none of her other customers ever told her about this problem before? She practically needed a child to break it down for her as to why her shop is not meeting sales target. Are her customers even aware of the problem in the first place? Sometimes she swears that adult are equally useless as children even though they had matured.

"Maybe you should even open your windows so everyone can even smell your delicious bread!"

Another sugar coated comment laced with so many sharp spikes to the baker, she knew she had at least planted in a thought into her mind. She likes it how with just a suggestion or two, people will start doubting themselves and questioning everything they know. The human mind is complicated as well as emotions and she doubts that she would fully understand them.

"I-I guess I could try it out?"

She could hear the gears in Akiyama-san's head moving as she glanced around her shop. Fuyumi mentally smirked at her success and manipulation. She will make sure Akiyama-san will always feel in debt to her after today after all, it was her suggestions that caused her business bloom. Depending on how fast the baker reorganised everything, she bets that the profits will be flowing within a week or two.

"Well I'll be going then! See you again Akiyama-san!"

She bowed politely before dashing out of the shop with the goods in her hand. Her job was done here and all she has to do now is watch her plan fall into motion. Nothing like a sweet victory watching a fly getting caught in her webs. However, her steps came to a halt after a few steps away from the bakery, expression closed off and mind deep in thoughts.

Why does she still feel like she was missing something important?

* * *

It turns out that fooling the instructor from the academy was a real piece of work. He brought a whole stack of games to the orphanage for everyone. The blonde man said how he wants to understand from our interactions with each other and decide the best way to teach us in school. With that, he passed along the games and everyone had to gather around to play together.

Fuyumi is struggling with the task in hand. Not everyone had the same game and currently she was playing some sort of a puzzle game. There are several questions and she must match them according to the answers on the puzzle, then rearrange them again according to the later instructions. She would have to present it to the ninja with the right shape created after she has finished.

She clenched her fist tightly before forcing herself to look preoccupied with the game. If she solves too fast then she would be noted, too slow they know something is not right and if she purposely makes any mistakes when she should not, they will know. The questions are all subjective and could be interpreted into so many different ways.

The complexity to not downgrade her intelligent too much and not overestimate the capabilities of a four year old is hard. She would have to break the puzzle down into pieces and reconstruct everything but the ninja would surely notice such a thing. She cannot copy any of her fellow orphans, knowing that no one had gotten the same questions. She is trapped.

Wait.

Fuyumi blinked and smirked internally. There were children younger than her also playing the games and obviously they are unable to answer some of the questions. Instinctively, they will simply guess the answer and placed the block there with the instructor noting their timing too. So that means the real test is when the puzzle is handed up to the ninja to judge.

This means that she just needs to make sure he will never look her puzzle. The raven hair girl then started on her puzzle, purposely making some mistakes and pausing a few more seconds at some questions. Slowly, she saw some children getting up from their workplace to show their end result to the taskmasters.

After sixteen children, she decided it would be the perfect time to execute her plan. Since she sat quite far back, she observes where everyone is sitting. Her plan needs to be precise and foolproof to fool a highly skilled ninja so when she saw the meaner kids sitting a few tables down from her, she saw her chance and opportunity.

With the ideal route decided, she got up and balance her work shakily, moving towards the destined direction. There. Immediately her opportunity arises when she saw a foot quickly sticking out, preparing to make her stumble. Oh, she is going to do more than a stumble. Fuyumi thought silently, face not betraying any mischief. Thank you for your wonderful sacrifice.

She let her foot be caught at the right angle before dramatically flinging her puzzle forward. The blocks flew everywhere in the room and scattered in every corner before she painfully landed forward, sprawling across the floor. She winced internally at the hard impact of her body on the wooden flooring and imagine the bruising which will appear later.

Immediately, she burst out crying.

Mari who sat at the side quietly witnessed the entire thing in shocked before hurrying towards her, trying to calm her down. The boy had gotten an earful of her screaming before he started bawling. With two children crying, Mari quickly scooped her up and tugged the boy away from the living room to stop disturbing everyone else who have not finished their puzzle.

Fuyumi quickly took a glimpse at the instructor before noticing him shaking his head and mark something down on in his book. Maybe she should consider acting as one of her career options with the stunt she just pulled off. Another sweet taste of victory and she could not stop the smug grip appearing on her face when she should be focusing on crying.

Oh well, second crisis averted.

* * *

Wooo! The second chapter is up!

So here is another insight into Fuyumi's cunning personality. I hope I've made her crafty enough but not too evil cause creating a goody-two-shoes character is kind of flat (unrealistic maybe?).

I want to try out a new perspective where the plot doesn't really take a 360 degree turn into another whole new story even with an OC poking around here and there, just like **psulrd** and **Zaphhh** (thank you so much for your review!) had pointed out.

I also have a review from **Elena Parker** (Thank you so much for being my first reviewer!) who had mentioned about the pairing system. Fuyumi is still four right now so I haven't really thought about it but maybe she will in future. Meh? Who knows? But I'll keep the Kakashi pairing in mind. XD

So what do you all think everyone? Give a paring a go or not to? Hmmmm~~

To my other reviewers: Guest, **FanfavBBC** , & **srirachacha** , Thank you so much for all your amazing reviews! It really motivated me!

Thank you for those who added my story into their library too! I really appreciate it too!

Again, this chapter is not edited so do expect mistakes. (Sorry!)

Throw in some comments if you have any questions or just for the fun of it. (LoL!)

See ya!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto except my OC.**

* * *

Chapter 3

Disgusting plebeians.

Her brows narrowed in irritations as she stared at the dead rat on her pillow. She had just finish her morning shower and came across a nauseating smell in the room while putting away her dirty laundry. The raven head felt her mood for the day slightly waver at the sight of the rotting animal before controlling her breathing to calm down.

Fuyumi never thought that one day she would be the target of a bullying case. Who knew that young children could be capable of such a wicked behaviour. The pleasure gained from revenge and humiliating those who they deemed unworthy in their eyes. Shattering confidence as well as instilling fear into the minds of their victims, making sure that they are on top of the hierarchy.

If such youngsters were taught how to use a knife or a weapon, she would not be surprise they will turn out insane in the end. Maybe this was why so many of them wanted to join the army forces. The sadistic pleasure of being powerful and great in battle, showing their glory and strength. It seems that Konoha should consider the psychological welfare of children before letting them enter into their program.

No wonder so many of their great ninjas are problematic.

Still, she had to applaud their intimidation technique, very original and organic, a typical fear that youngsters around her age was scared of. If they were trying to get a reaction out from her, they really should try harder than this. However, she would not put high hopes on them since they were still children, their minds are still somewhat innocent despite their cruelty.

It did not take Fuyumi a second to identify the perpetrator behind every single mischief for the past few days. Kaito, a mischievous nine year old boy who had been here since the day he was born. Since the orphanage was started up less than ten years ago, the brunette had been the first generation to be raise here so it automatically made him the leader of the place.

This was also the boy she had used as bait for her incident with the academy instructor to cause her dramatic exit. Her flawless performance however, had caused her to be the main target to be picked on for the month. It had earned her a bitter enemy who is twice her age and in size, easily powering over her with his friends by his side.

After their incident, the brunette's application to the academy was terminated. To the trained instructor, the boy's childish behaviour was not acceptable and believing that problems would arise if he went to the academy. Thus, his jealousy and frustration had caused him to start his little petty revenge on her to sooth his inner turmoil and shattered dream of being a ninja.

Fuyumi sighed annoyingly. The pathetic boy should instead thank her for preventing him entering the academy. Ninjas would not be so stupid as to sent useless children to war despite what she heard from the gossiping villagers. An unskilled person would just be another liability in the field and for the village reputation, they need to have a low death count rate to promote strength and superiority.

Those children fighting in the frontlines were the capable ones that the experienced soldiers trusted to watch each other back. So anyone in the academy they deemed unqualified were either thrown back into civilian life or taken in as paper pushers. With a background as a civilian orphan, it was highly unlikely for anyone to notice their potential unless they were born as a prodigy.

In the end, the boy's dream would still be destroyed. He will grow up bitter about missing the chance of being a known heroic individual which orphans often wishes to be acknowledge. Then, he would eventually be the person who grumbles in the background, discouraging any kids who shared the same dream with him once, jealous of them having a chance whereas his had long passed.

However, she felt irritated at herself. A slight miscalculation on her part had caused something so careless as this to happen. She admitted to have panic when something unexpected was thrown in her face which somehow created an error in her judgement. This was not acceptable in her books but at least she had learnt of this flaw earlier rather than in the future.

The ability to predict was nearly impossible against a skilled ninja. Their movement were too random and none of their appearance reflect anything about their hobbies or personalities. Their awareness and instinct from their past experience, harness from the battlefield to throw off their enemies would further cause a miscalculation in her perception towards them.

All Fuyumi could do was pull off cheap civilian tactics which they were encourage to abandon upon entering the academy, catching them off guard and be dismissed. However, pulling off the victim act will tend to wear off if she keeps using it constantly and may somehow project her as a meek girl who is easily cornered which will do her no good too.

The raven head hates it when she does not have enough trump cards up her sleeves. She needs experience at dealing with these people but she is reluctant to mix with the ninjas as they will no doubt lure her into their lifestyle. There was only a fine line between a civilian and ninja but she does not know how much she can overstep without falling into the other category.

Her dark blue eyes narrowed in distaste. If she was born slightly later instead of the start of a war period then she might not be so paranoid about everything. However with the faint memories of the series still intact in her mind, even during the peace era it does not mean that there will be no chaos and destruction.

Right now she would have to suck it up and clean up the mess as soon as possible. There was no room for error to be created here and she needed her record to be plain as possible before starting a life out in the village. Better to get rid of the weeds now before it becomes a pesticide in the future, hindering her from achieving a normal life.

Her dark blue eyes glance around the room before signing in frustration. It was going to be a pain to wash away the smell and rotten flesh on her pillow unless she managed to figure out a way to deal with this situation.

* * *

A piercing scream came from upstairs around noon. Fuyumi was munching on her chicken sandwich while reading in the dining room with the caretakers walking around to make sure no one was causing mischief. It seems that after one food fight in the past had taught them a lesson, making sure that no children was supposed to be left unattended with food around the table.

She had purposely chosen to switch pillow with a roommate of hers who was unfortunate enough to have the same bedspread design as her. It was a spur of the moment as the rotting flesh became too unbearable for her to handle. A quick decision made before she retreated back downstairs to avoid the bullies from being suspicious of her whereabouts.

Reika, a sweet blonde girl who sometimes help her to clean up their room together when the older kids were either busy with their chores or just plain lazy. She is somewhat tolerable but a little dramatic who will no doubt cause the commotion to blow up further. Most of her act was inspired from the blonde who is also on a good term with the adults in the orphanage.

"Mari! Kaito and his friends put a dead rat on my pillow!"

The poor terrified eight year old wailed as she burst into the dining room, screaming hysterically about the corpse on her bed. Immediately this caught everyone's attention and they started to whisper among themselves. Some clearly eyeing the group of boys suspiciously while others were enjoying the fight which was going to happen.

"What?! No we did not!"

As predicted, Kaito jumped into a defensive stance, slamming the table as he stood up. The brunette quickly marched up towards the screeching girl in anger, pushing away all his friends who tried to stop him as well as those who stood in his way.

"You did! I saw you guys playing with one yesterday!"

"We weren't!"

"You did! You did! You did! You big fat liar!"

She watched Reika throwing accusations after accusations at the brunette who kept deflecting them back messily. It was a clear losing battle as none of his friends were even trying to help defend their leader. This is what happens when one gains loyalty by instilling fear into his followers. They would rather watch you die that join you to share the blame together.

Finally, he snapped.

"It wasn't for you anyway! Fuyumi was supposed to get it!"

"Kaito! How dare you!"

She saw Mari screamed in horror at his confession. Fuyumi wanted to wrangle the boy. All he had to do was continue the fight and let the caretakers separate them with a verbal warning or a light slap on the wrist. However, the poor boy had practically dug his own grave by dragging her into his mess.

"That's it! You in my office NOW!"

Mari wrenched Kaito up by his collars, dragging him out from the silent dining room with some kids gapping in shocked about what had transpired. A sombre mood took over the room, leaving everyone to continue their lunch in silence. It was an unspoken rule that when a child goes into her office, it was always a bad thing.

The orphanage is located closer to the main districts and the caretakers could not let any orphans to cause any rackets. Any complain from the residence, the orphanage will have to pay a fine or worst case, lose their licence to continue their operation. Thus, orphanages in the nicer parts of the village has strict rules and behaviours are constantly monitored by the residents.

So that left the caretakers to transfer the problematic ones to the orphanages located near the slumps at the outer districts. Children who ended up there would eventually mixed around with those questionable people especially when there is a famous brothel there taking in anyone who the deem fit working for them.

Fuyumi blinked. She had almost sealed Kaito's fate by getting him into a bigger trouble then what she had intended to do. It seems that with the loyalty of Mari in her hands, anyone who touched her will be given a harsher punishment than usual. She laughed mentally at how easily it was to manipulate the adults with fake smiles and polite gestures.

All she have to do now was make sure that the boy will never be in her presence anymore. There was no doubt if he had managed to avoid being transferred, he will definitely be a bigger annoyance. She definitely would not want to waste more time on such an insignificant matter anymore, so she would have to permanently get rid of him now.

Besides, it was his fault playing with fire.

* * *

Soooo, Chapter 3 is here!

Hohoho! Here we get to see Fuyumi's dark side as to how she deal with her bullying problem. I will be finally moving into the main plot in another few chapters as I think everyone kind of gets Fuyumi's personality (or is it still lacking in some way?) already.

To **Elena Parker** (Thank you for your review again!), well the timeline is around the start of the third shinobi war so it puts her around Kakashi's generation but maybe five or more years younger than him but I'm not too sure about it yet (still working on the timeline!). And yes, Fuyumi will do anything to avoid being a ninja (I haven't figure out her reason yet but the idea will come around soon, I hope?). ;b

To **srirachacha** (Thank you for reviewing again!), Who knows? But I definitely will have a scene back at the bakery again. XD

To **May525** (Thank you for the review!), Yep! I think I should just let story flow and wait till she grows up before deciding any pairings.

To **guest** (Thank you for reviewing!), Err... Fuyumi is definitely not going to be a ninja so she won't be touching any fancy jutsus or techniques but she will definitely encounter problems of people cornering her to be one in the future. However, whether she would change her mind will depend on the story progression as she grows.

Thank you for those who favourite/follow my story! I really appreciate it too!

Again, this chapter is not edited so do expect mistakes. (Sorry!)

Throw in some comments if you have any questions or just for the fun of it. (LoL!)

See ya all next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto except my OC.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Fuyumi's feet came to an immediate stop away from the bakery. She was given an hour from Mari to wander outside before teatime as the young raven head was done with her chores and reading. The freedom given was refreshing after an entire week of lockdown from Kaito's incident thus causing her to be a little twitchy these days as putting up an act nonstop was tiring.

After the brunette's outburst, he was given a serious warning on his attitude and behaviour before he was excused. It was just a gentle slap on the wrist and his punishment was just as light. It seems that she had forgotten to consider that the caretakers may have a small attachment to the boy who was among their first batch of orphans despite his horrid attitude.

Thus, this lenient action had lead to a sneering face of a rat who could not stop antagonising her when no one was watching, wanting to get her into trouble. She could not help but scoffed in ridicule at his failure of a plan where it might work for someone around his age or older. To get a younger child in trouble was slightly difficult especially it involves physical violence.

Fuyumi could feel that the brunette was inching for a brawl which she had no doubt the boy would win due to his size and strength against her four year old self. Luckily, the pesticide was not such an idiot as to use his only advantage on her as a rumoured fight would definitely travel back into the ears of the caretakers with the bruises and injuries as evidence of his handiwork.

So at the mean time, the raven head could only silently take in his insults and jabs, ignoring his existence while moving forward with her plan of independence. However, she could feel her patience with the brunette was coming to an end and was going to get rid of him before he could further delay her from her preferred path in life.

With that, she decided to travel down to the bakery to evaluate her investment plan. After being cooped up in the orphanage for a week with a bunch of screaming kids was mentally straining so the stroll in the district was a welcoming sight. Everything was still the same in the noisy market shop areas with people walking everywhere to their destination.

Right now, the raven head was staring at the foreign building in front of her. Just a week ago the shop looked like it could barely last a month but now there was a large crowd hanging around the place. It seems that Akiyama-san had taken into consideration about her charitable suggestions but the four year old somehow doubt that all these changes were done by the aging woman.

The cracked walls were all patched up and painted with a fresh coat of light coral colouring, making the shop stand out in the district. The heavy wooden door which would creak every time someone push it open was replaced with a nicer one with nice carvings detailed on it. Some flowerbeds were planted where the tree was once located giving it a floral overview of the shop.

There were some tables and chairs placed outside for customers to sit and enjoy the baked goods, subconsciously attracting more curious consumer to investigate the busy shop. The bakery had changed from just being a simple shop and transformed into a cafe in front with them also providing beverages to the customers which they could order from inside.

This was pure genius.

They had capitalised the empty plot of the small lot just like those meat shops who cuts the meat behind and sell them in front. This means they would be getting twice the profit from before if the quality of both services are up to par. They had use up every single space and corner, leaving nothing out as they maximise everything to make sure their revenue covers their costs.

However, she was not one bit happy with what she saw when she spotted the sign on the shop had changed. It was no longer just called Akiyama Bakery but with another small name printed beneath it written, Hakuun, white cloud. Fuyumi furrow her eyebrow at the anonymous name of the new partner before sighing tiredly.

It seems that Akiyama-san had been approached by an investor and that had put her entire plan to a blunder. Whoever this investor was, they were thoroughly experience and sees the potential the shop could have. Moreover, she suspected that the other partner would be a sleeping investor since they had let Akiyama-san keep her shop name.

With this, it would be harder for her to manipulate the older woman as she doubt that the other partner would be happy to know that an orphan had been getting free goods from the shop. The pain of being in a partnership is when their hold on the business has been split in half making the original owner's say no longer valuable anymore compared to the past.

She also doubt that Akiyama-san had considered that aspect.

It took someone a week to flip her investment backwards and now she will have to start her ground of securing her food supply from somewhere else. All she had right now was her fake charisma and manipulations but it would only take her so far without some sort of capital to secure the partnership just like in this situation.

Fuyumi was frustrated. Being in a child's body was hindering all of her possibilities and route to take, not to mention paranoid ninjas who she had no doubt monitors any suspicious activities. Being restricted in every direction was causing her mental strain and she felt really closing on snapping at the closest person to vent her suppress stress that was squashed behind her mind.

Snapping out from her thoughts, she went ahead and push open the wooden door. Since she came here, might as well take a look around the newly refurbish shop before deciding on any action to be taken. Hearing a soft jingle of a bell, her nose was instantly hit by a variety of flavoured breads and cakes before it was drowned by the soothing scent of tea in the beverage corner.

Inside was much more lively than before with children yelling excitedly at their parents to get their preferred treats while some were browsing interestingly at the display cases. It seems that the interior had changed too, choosing warm tone as the colour scheme. This made the bakery feel wider with the limited amount of space available, a psychological manipulation approach.

The lighting were in a warm yellow shade, not too blinding in the already bright shop with the natural light seeping in from the clear window. There was at least five employees with three catering the counter and packaging as well as casher while the other two restock and chat with the customers. Good customer services will tend to increase the chances of them returning.

Fuyumi suspects that there was at least three more bakers in the kitchen to keep up with the demand from the customers. The shop seems very organised and systematic with everyone knowing their job and responsibilities. The dynamic between co-workers and customers were smooth and any mistakes were quickly cleared up to avoid the flow to be disturbed.

The raven head silently wonders how long did it took them to train the staff since it would be impossible to do everything in a week with renovations going on. Unless of course, the investor already had their eyes set upon the shop for quite some time before implementing everything else which made her slightly annoyed.

In the corner of the shop, she saw Akiyama-san overlooking the place. It seems that the older woman had taken up the role as a manager with her observing all her employees as well as the customer. It took a few seconds for her eyes to find Fuyumi in the crowd of people before waving her to come forward with a warm and excited smile.

"Fuyumi-chan! I haven't seen you in a while!"

The familiar kind tone of the woman happily greeted her. The brunette looked slightly relax than before with less stress lines and much more alive. Her attire was the same as before with some flour present on the apron suggesting that she was still working in the kitchen. However, the raven head was sure that the elder woman was just behind there monitoring the process rather than baking.

"Kaito played a really mean prank on Reika and no one was allowed to go out these days."

The orphanage caretakers had forced everyone into secrecy about the incident as they feared rejection from the residents. They were trying to make their record clean as possible so that their licence would not be taken away. Moreover, the annual check up from the authorities were nearing and they had to make sure everything was in order especially the paperwork.

What a pretence.

However, Fuyumi doubt that anyone could blamed a four year old to hold any secrets especially when she is in a bakery where sweets were present, enough to let anyone assumed that she was being bribed. Sometimes it was just too easy to get away with everything during their younger days as adults hardly fault them from anything and it was somewhat expected of them to make mistakes.

"Really? That's mean of him!"

"Ya! He put a dead rat on her pillow!"

Fuyumi watched as the newly appointed manager shook her head, scandalised at the revelation. She did not know whether civilians were just dramatic or they were just really sheltered in this village. However, she felt that it was the latter since she had seen the greengrocer a few blocks down requesting ninjas to help move his new shipment stock and clean up the place.

"That's horrible! I heard from Satoshi-san from the general store down the road saying that he tried to steal a candy the other day!"

"I saw the boy once push someone off a swing cause he wanted to play it. He didn't even bother to ask!"

"How rude! I bet that broken window from the flower shop must be his doing too!"

"It could be! I saw him constantly hanging around that corner with some of his friends!"

One by one she watched everyone near the counter giving their own inputs and gossips about the boy. Kohona is a tight knitted community where almost everyone knows each other even from the orphanage if their children play around them. One good thing from this was, it was effortless to spread rumours and everyone can easily identify that person without much trouble.

Thus, to tarnish ones reputation was just a simple sentence muttered to the right group to be spread. That was when bored housewife comes in to the equation. It was just amusing to watch how vicious these group of ' _weak_ ' females could chew someone before spitting out the bones and move on to their next source of entertainment.

"Maybe Mari should consider sending the boy away to another district! I don't think we want our kids mixing around with a delinquent like him right?"

"Ya! I saw him roughhousing with the younger kids the other day too."

Fuyumi watch the conversation carry on. It was a sudden impulse for her to get rid of the boy with her plan now going back to square one. She should have considered to cover her tracks before starting a rumour in case someone decided to find the culprit who started all of these nonsense especially Mari whom the raven head had not seen these day with her being busy.

However, she believes that it would do her more good to rid of the mosquito than let it buzz around her ear all day. He might be harmless today with just a few stings and bites but later on it might be problematic and too late for her to clean up the mess. Therefore, it was justified for her to take an action to exile the boy before he could cause more harm to her plain position.

She knew doing this will no doubt destroy any possible future the nine year old would have by sentencing him to the slumps. However for her own peaceful life, Fuyumi will not hesitate to use them as a stepping stone to achieve her goal even if she had to get her hands dirty to achieve that. Besides, the boy will just be another forgetful face anyway left behind in the past.

No one was important to keep note of yet.

With her decision made, she turned her attention back to Akiyama-san who was also chatting heatedly in the conversation going around her, oblivious that she too would be another person involve in crushing the poor innocent boy. Fuyumi wonders what will the baker's reaction will be when she finally found out about her terrible act and had forced the boy into a snake pit.

However, right now the raven head was here for answers of the current situation of the bakery. She hated to be in the unknown. There were just too many possibilities to disregard that this may just be a onetime thing and to blame her lousy luck. Among all the shops in the district, the man had chosen this bakery and Fuyumi could not help but feel suspicious.

It felt like a declaration on war like what she used to play so long ago. The thrill and satisfaction of destroying businesses to build her impenetrable empire feels like a lifetime ago. The fast pace of selling and buying out everything to make sure she was the best and nothing could take her down from her golden throne of the financial world.

And right now, it felt like this investor had just won the first round by providing Akiyama-san the funds for her business. It gave her a bad taste in her mouth, reminding her again and again that she was nobody right now but a useless four year old orphan girl. However, a name will never be build over night and she is confident that she will be the back on her seat again.

"Neh Akiyama-san, did you change all of these by yourself?"

"Well, a kind man helped me and I was so lucky to meet him."

"So who's he?"

"Oh, someone important but you don't have to worry your little pretty head over it alright?"

Fuyumi twitched at the patronising tone from the manager before schooling her facial expression back to her smiling mask. Another problem she faced was that adults tend to assume that children were still young and do not need to know anything. It was still a chore for her to reconstruct all her speeches to make sure she was not seen too intelligent nor childish.

"I even told him about you, Fuyumi-chan."

"Huh? What? Why?!"

Fuyumi act slipped and for a moment she was unable to comprehend anything but root herself on the spot as she watched Akiyama-san kept going on and on about her meeting with the man, mentioning about her wonderful ideas and shared it with him over lunch. Her blood running cold as she paled rapidly, dreading at the notion of being known by a complete stranger.

Despite what the baker may think, the woman had just painted a red target on her four year old self who was not in any way capable of defending herself from a grown man. Who knows what else the elder woman had said to him and she hoped that it did not include her orphan status. It was already bad enough she was avoiding ninjas, she did not need to watch out for civilians too.

 _Breath. Exhale. Focus. Think._

There was no use on panicking now. She needed to improvise and her safety will be her main priority before anything else. Quickly clasping her trembling hands together, she excused herself from Akiyama-san, throwing some excuses before forcing herself to walk out from the bakery calmly. All she needs right now it to plan somewhere quiet and she would be alright.

Fuyumi cannot afford any loophole to occur and this may be a tear too large to even mend through with whatever limited resources she currently have. The raven head should have known better than to let her guard down and let her childish instinct to take over by trusting or believing adults to keep their mouth shut. It seems that she would have to depend on no one but herself from now.

* * *

Hei everyone!

So sorry for the long update! I thought I had posted this chapter like a week or two ago! Maybe it was my crappy internet or something but anyway~

Welcome to Chapter 4! Wooooo! This will be kind of the last chapter introducing Fuyumi's personalities and the real stuff will start from the next one! Will love all of your opinions on this chapter! XD

To **SeiShisui** (Thank you for reviewing!): Well, I think the academy will be out from the question with her so adamant to live a ninja life. Moreover, if she does go to a civilian academy, I think she will lose her patience with children childish tendencies. But she is still too young (civilian standards) so the option is not yet decided. So which do you prefer? I would be interested to hear your answer. XD

To **srirachacha** (Thank you for reviewing!): Who knows? But we will definitely see their interaction in the next chapter. Xb

To **May525** (Thank you for the review!): Well, I'm still thinking about her excuse since it got to be a huge impact that cause her to have such a negative reaction towards ninja but your suggestion is welcome too! ^v^

To **Meee** (Thank you for your review!): Thank you so much for your support! After reading your review, I've gotten so motivated and was bursting in happiness for the entire day! XD

To **Anerali** , , **Guest** , **Sakiraa-chan** , **Yuki078** : Thank you all for reviewing! I'm so happy that you all like Fuyumi (cause I was worried that I had made her too mean or something) and I hope you all continue to support my story!

Thank you for those who favourite/follow my story! I really appreciate it too!

Again, this chapter is not edited so do expect mistakes. (Sorry!)

Throw in some comments if you have any questions or just for the fun of it. (LoL!)

See ya all next time!


	5. Author's Notes

To my dear readers,

The " _ **wonderful**_ " government of Malaysia has banned us citizens to access FanFiction anymore from this month onward indicating that it was "violating" some law set which I was too pissed off to read more about it. So, this will be my last update until next year around June or July where I would further my studies overseas and then I would be **FREE** again to update without crappy problems. Therefore, I want to thank everyone who has been patience as well as supportive of my stories and I hope you all the best in life!

Thank you Everyone!

Signing out till next year,

DrizzleMadness.


End file.
